Gene McGuckin

Various Animations & Drawings (For the drawings, you can click on them to get a larger/clearer view)

Sunday, August 2, 2009

More Ren & Stimpy Layouts--Episode: "Altruists"

Sorry, it's been awhile since I posted anything. I've been real busy animating on "The Mr. Men Show" season 2. Here's a scene from the episode "Altruists." Basically Ren & Stimpy want to steal a valuable painting from the house--yet the two children in the basement catch Stimpy in the act.

I remember when I thought that came up with this expression for the boy, I thought it was great. I still like it, but I later remembered that I must have remembered it from an older Ren & Stimpy episode: "Dog Show." Remember if the dog wasn't chosen, the judge would throw it into a bull dog's mouth for lunch? Anyway, I saw later that that is where I got the expression from (though I didn't know it at the time).

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Another scene where Ren & Stimpy are running scared of the crazy, axe wielding Fire Chief (Ralph Bakshi). This time, they're posing as book-ends to try and fool him. As you can see below, they aren't fooling anybody...

I did a good amount of scenes with Ren & Stimpy running away and hiding in different ways from the Fire Chief's axe. It was fun, because it gave me the chance to draw the characters in action.

Friday, May 29, 2009

"The Point Where Rage overcomes Depression" (1999)

I drew and inked this back in '99 when 3-D was becoming more prominent than Traditional Animation--at the first company I worked for. I wasn't happy with the change. First sad, then enraged. Now I just accept it as a reality.

On a side-note, you might want to click on this image to get a clearer view. I know I say this at the very top (along with the discription of my blog), but this one has some details that can't really be seen unless you click on it for the larger view.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Some of my layouts from Ren & Stimpy, Episode: "Fire Dogs II" (2003)

Here's Stimpy jumping on screen--

Landing--

--and doing "the take." I didn't draw this one. It was drawn by my Supervisor Fred Osmond. I had a crazy idea of drawing Stimpy as a crazed cat with slits for pupils and his hair all frayed out. It didn't fly though.

Stimpy running off, dodging an axe from the crazed fire chief, played by Ralph Bakshi.

Then Ren jumps onto screen to find an axe embedded into the wall.

He does his "take." I actually drew it even more crazy originally--but then toned it down for the show. That's why the copy of Ren is a pasted on copy from a copy and not the best of quality.

And finally, Ren runs in mid-air for a moment and exits stage left--as the axe is pulled out.

Statue designs I drew for Mattel (2001)

"The Cletus & Floyd Show!" (2002)

Various drawings I did for our project (me and Frank Forte). We both do the directing and storyboards. I do the character designs and animation, while he does the backgrounds. It's been at a stand-still for awhile now. Hopefully I can get focused once again--and get this project going. We already have many episode summaries to fill a season.

Some layouts I drew for "Stimpy's Pregnant" (2003)

Yup, I was right, on the first drawing they did change the look of Stimpy for the final version. You can see the final version of this drawing if you scroll down.

This was changed also. You see, we didn't have the sound yet when doing these layouts, so I thought Ren would be in distress saying "...having my baby!"; having the accent on the last drawing for the word "..baby!" As it turned out, John wanted him to be saying it calmly.

Oh, on a side note--the first drawing on the first page actually happens after the cop leaves. I just put it first for my portfolio (since it shows the car in full detail).

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Here's the second animation test I took to get the job animating on "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" (2006)

Though this animation also called for acting in the scene, I believe it was mainly based to see one's skills in using allot of secondary and follow-through action. With those crazy eyes of Wilt moving at different speeds an' all. The thing about Wilt is that he has somewhat control over his bigger right eye--but zero control over his smaller left one.

I know it seems weird how the scene stops when he's in mid sentence, but that's how the test was. I guess it cuts to another scene at that point.

Some of my Ren & Stimpy Layouts after being inked & painted (2003)

Two kids are about to have a visit from their heroes--Ren & Stimpy! From the episode "Altruists."

Two hungry people, one is headless. Ren is off screen, force-feeding the woman cheese. From the episode "Altruists."

Stimpy going into contractions, Ren paranoid. I don't remember drawing Stimpy's eyes like that (but maybe I did--who knows), but I do have a clear memory of drawing Ren how he looks here. From the episode "Stimpy's Pregnant."

I found these on some random website awhile back and well, here they are. It's too bad there wasn't anything from the episode "Fire Dogs II", I did layouts for that one also. I do have allot of Layout Drawings of these episodes that I'll post soon. I just decided that since I have these final stills already on my computer, that I might as well post them.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

A couple of quick sketches I drew with a ball-point Bic pen from the book The Illusion of Life (2009)

These are quick sketches I did with a ball-point Bic pen a few months back. With all the Flash Animation I've been doing lately, I haven't been drawing much at all, as you can see. It was nice to get back to the basics. I'm a bit rusty on some of these drawings.

I started drawing with just a pen (leaving no room for fixing errors) when I was working at Cartoon Network on the cartoon "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends." Between scenes I'd take out my "Chuck Amuck" book and do a quick pen sketch. Some came out alright, some didn't. I feel it's a good exercise for us animators, it definitely can make one more loose because you may think (like I did) "Well, I'm probably gonna' mess up, might as well do it quickly..." Then you find that there may be some drawings that didn't come out as bad as you may have thought; considering the circumstances. "I'm a victim of circumstance!" And you will feel more confident in your lines after doing it for awhile.

I believe I still have many of those Chuck Jones studies from 2006 and I'll see about posting them soon.

Study of Rembrandt's Self Portrait (2000)

Here's one I did a year later (2000). It's a study of Rembrandt'sSelf Portrait. This time I have the original. The actual drawing is really small, I enlarged it a bit for the post. I used colored pencils once again (since I'm partially color-blind, I only use a limited amount of color).

I guess you can say this is me studying Rembrandt, studying himself.

When I look at it now, I think the study would look better if the lines on the hat dissappeared in the center at different areas--showing contrast. Live and learn.

Study of Michelangelo's Ideal Head and Leonardo da Vinci's Head of a Warrior (1999)

Well, I finally took the time to figure some of this blogger stuff out. Here are two studies I did back in 1999. The Leonardo da Vinci study is my favorite, but I no longer have it. I originally drew it in red pencil. One of the reasons it's my favorite is because I took the liberty to get creative with the designs inside the warrior's helmet. Even though I no longer have the original, I'm happy that I at least have this faded copy (that I had to increase the contrast using Photoshop).

You can see it allot better if you click on it for an enlarged version.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

My Traditional Animation Reel (2001)

Most of this traditional animation was done while I was working at Vivendi-Universal (Funnybone Int.); my first animation job. Though there are a couple scenes of my own characters. It spans from 1998 to 2001.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

My "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" Flash Reel (2006)

Here is my demo reel from working on "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends." I got a little carried away and made it longer than it should be. I'd like to shorten it one day. There are some animation scenes (or parts of scenes) that I feel should be taken out.